Grip-tester or similar coin-controlled device



(NoModeL) 3 sheets-Sheet 1.

P. BEETZ. GRIP TESTER 0R SIMILAR 00m CONTROLLED DEVICE.

Patented Dec. 18, 1888.

flttorney,

n PETERS, Photo-Liihogmpher, Washington, D. c,

(No Model.)

T 3 Sheets-Sheet 2. P. BEETZ.

, GRIP TESTER 0R SIMILAR COIN CONTROLLED DEVICE.

Patented Dec. 18, 1888.

INVENTOR:

WITNESSES:

- flttorney.

Nv PETERS, PhnIoLiUlographBr. Washington. D. C.

(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

P. BEETZ. GRIP TESTER OR SIMILAR COIN CONTROLLED DEVICE. No. 394,812.Patented Dec. 18, 1888.

I-NVENTORZ WITNESSES: Li

u, PETERS, Halo-Lithographer \Vashinglon, D, c.

NITED STATES ATENT OFFICE.

PETER BEETZ, OF BROOKLYN, NEIV YORK.

GRIP-TESTER OR SIMILAR COIN-CONTROLLED DEVICE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 394,812, dated December18, 1888.

Application filed April 4, 1888. Serial No. 269,561. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, PETER BEETZ, a citizen of Germany, and a resident ofBrooklyn, Kings county, New York, have invented certain Improvements inGrip-Testers or Similar Coin- Oontrolled Devices, of which the followingis a specification.

My invention relates to that class of devices for rendering service-suchas grip-testers, weighing machines, vending apparatuses, &c.wherein acoin of the proper kind inserted at a coin-slit in the casing of the machine serves to render the device operative, and particularly to thatvariety of such machines wherein the inserted coin, interposed edgewisebetween moving parts, serves vto unlock the device.

The object of the invention is, in part, to provide the machine with twoconnected gripping devices or grips, in part to provide a coin-chutethat may be convei'iiently freed from obstruct-ions, and in part toprovide means for controlling the pointer that is auxiliary to theordinary poi'nteror dial-hand.

My invention will be fully described here inafter, and its novelfeatures carefully defined in the claims.

In the drawings I have shown my invention embodied in the best form withwhich I am now acquainted and as applied both to a griptester and to aweighing-machine.

In the said drawings, Figure 1 is a rear view of the device as embodiedin a grip-tester, the back plate or door of the casing and a part of thecoin-chute being omitted from this view the better to illustrate theoperative parts. Fig. 2 is a vertical mid-section of the device ormachine. Fig. 3 is a front view showing the dial. Fig. 4 is a sectionalrear elevation of the coin-chute detached and on a scale about one andone-half times that of Figs. 1, 2, and 23; and Fig. I is an edge view orelevation of same. These views also show some of the adjacent parts ofthe device for illustrative purposes. Fig. 1 is a plan or top view ofthe coin-chute, and Fig. r is a transverse section of same on line 4 etin Fig. 4. Fig. 5 is a fragmentary perspective view of a detachedportion of the mechanism that Will be hereinafter described. Figs. 6 and7 are detached detail views, on a scale double that of Fig. 4,illustrating the mechanism for 'ing.

controlling the movements of the auxiliary hand or pointer. Fig. 8 is aview similar to Fig. 1, illustrating the application of my device to anautomatic weighing-machine.

I will first describe the mechanism as constructed to serve as agrip-tester, premising that the alterations to adapt it to aweighingmachine are merely such as are within the knowledge of anyskilled mechanic.

A is a box or casing for the mechanism. This box may have any form andmay be constructed of any suitable material. It has a dial, A serving asa front plate, and a door, A, at the back. This door will or may beprovided with some suitable lock or fastening to prevent access to theinterior by unauthorized persons. The casing A may be mounted on anykind of base or be set up and supported in any manner desired.

At the center of the dial is mounted rotatively an arbor, a, on which isfixed a pinion, 1), inside of the casing. *ith this pinion meshes arack, 0, carried by a longitudinally slidingoperating-bar, O, which hasa suitable guide-bearing at a: in the wall of the casing A. At its innerend this bar C is furnished with a cross-head, C, the ends of whichslide on two rigidly-fixed spring bars or rods, D D, on which aresprings E E. On the outer or projecting end the bar C is provided, also,with a cross-head, G which plays in a guide frame or bail, F, rigidlysecured to the eas- These parts (seen at the left in Fig. 1) constitutea grip. Now, if one grasps the cross-bar of bail F and the cross-head Oand grips them in such a manner as to draw the latter out toward theformer, he will cause the cross-head C to compress the springs E E, theamount of compression of said springs being the measure of hisgripping-power, and the movement of the bar O endwise in testing hisgrip causes the rack c to rotate the pinion b and arbor a, and thiscauses the hand or pointer on the outer end of the arbor to traverse thedial, and thus indicate the grippingpower in a well-known way. Myimprovements in relation to the pointers or hands will be hereinafterdescribed.

I have described only the grip seen at the left hand in Fig. 1; but Iprefer to provide another grip also, as seen at the right in saidfigure. In this grip a T-piece, G, is fixed rigidly to the casing A forthe fingers to grasp, and the bail F has its ljiranches secured rigidlyto the. erow-head (1, before described. \Vhen the cros. bar of this gripand the T- piece G are gripped,the bar 0 is pushed endwise. The interiormechanism actuated is the same in both cases; but some persons prefer touse one form and some the other form oli grip. 'lheretore I prefer touse both forms.

I. will now describe the means employed For locking the bar against:endwise movement, and the means whereby the insertion of a coin ot' theproper kind enables the device to be operated.

On the bar 0 is a shoulder, (7. (Seen best in Fig. 5, which is aperspective view of this part of the bar.) Over the bar is arranged agravity or spring latch, c, adapted to play in suitable guides and torest at its lower end on the bar C- just in front of said shoulder (.7.This latch elt'ectually plevents the etiective movementendwise of bar(until the latch is raised high enough for the shoulder to pass underit. I utilize the inserte(l coin as a medium for raising the latch.

'lhrough the bar (3 at one side of the shoulder I form a slot, j", wideenough to pass the coin and having at its one end an incline, g. Thisconstruction is seen in Figs. l and 5, the former showing this part ofbar C in section. The coin 7 in Fig. 4 falls from a coin-chute into theslot f and would roll down the in.- cline g and drop into a coin-chutebelow; but it is arrested by a projecting stud, c, on the latch 6. Thisposition of the coin is seen in full lines in Fig. l. Now, when aneffort is made to move bar endwise, (toward the left in the drawings,)the coin is carried forwa rd by the incline g on the bar C andv pushedunder the stud c. in the mannerof a wedge, thus raising the latch eabove the shoulder (7 on the bar and permittin the latter to move on.The coin drops through the slot f as soon as it is pushed beyond thestud c and falls into the casing A, or into any desired receptacletherein.

I will now describe the construction of the coin chute or chutes withespecial reference to Figs. -l, 4:, t, and i ll is the main chute, whichI make,by preference, perfectly straight, extending down from thecoin-slit 7:, where the coin is inserted through casing A, and openingout at e the bottom ot' the same at 1'.

ll is a branch chute, which leads from the main chute to a pointdirectly over the slotf in bar C, so that a coin dropping i'rom saidbranch chute must fall into said slot.

j is a hinged track orswiteh mounted in the main chute ll, and arranged(see Fig. 4-) to switch or direct the coin from the main chute into thebranch chute 11.

Should a coin of less diameter than the proper coin be inserted at theslit 71, it will pass down the branch chute ll, fall into the slot f,and, being too small to catch against the stud c, it will drop throughthe slot fand where it may be recovered.

into a pocket, Il on the main chute 1t, and pass thence down and out olthe chute at 1', A coin larger than the proper coin cannot be insertedin the slit 71. It a proper coin be inserted, it will pass down thebranch chute and into the slot .7; but the stud c will detain it,asbeloredescribed. \Vhen it is carried forward with the bar 0 under thestud c, it will pass over and beyond the pocket il and thereli'm'e whenit falls it. will not fall into said pocket, but down into the casing A.

lly inspection of Figs. 1 and -lit will be seen that the shoulder (7-stands normally a little way back from the latch c, whereby a littleendwise movement of the bar (3 is al lowed when the latch is initslocking position. The object of this will now be explained.

The hinged switclnj is held up to its place by a l)racket-piece, 7., orother projecting piece carried by the bar t. This piece 7,: bears on theswitch so close to its hinging-point that a very slight movement of thebar (3 suffices to allow the switch to fall, when said switch will.assume the position shown in dotted lines in Fi r. Th is leaves astraight passage through the chute ll from top to bottom, and in casethis chute should get choked or stopped it is only necessary to graspthe grip with force enough to bring the shoulder (7 up to latch 12, whenthe piece 71; will be pushed. back far enough to allow the switch tofall. A red may then be passed down through the chute to clear it out.The slit, 7i is of less dimension than any part of the chute, and hencethere will be little liability of any obstacle becoming wedged in thechute after it has passed the slit.

I prefer to rely on gravity to operate the latch e and switchj; but theymay of course be actuated by springs, these latter meansbeing knownequivalents of the former in this class of devices. If desired, the studa may have a rolling sleeve on it to lessen the lriction.

In ap 'ilving my improvements to a weighing-machine it is only necessaryto remove the grips, arrange a vertical rack to engage the pinion b, (inaddition to horizontal. rack c,) and connect the actuating-rod of theplat :lorm-seale with this rack. in Fig. 8 I have shown this(:(mstruction. In order not to ob seure the other parts, I have in thisview, as

in Fig. T1, not shown all of the coin-chute. c

is the upright rack, meshing with pinion. 7), and I is the operating-rodcommonly emiloyed for connecting the mechanism under the seale-platformwith the indicating device in weighing-machines of this kind. This rod 1is attached at its upper end to the rack 0. Thus the weight of theperson on the platform is made to rotate the pinion (I, and through thisto operate bar 0.

In. devices of this character it is desirable to have two pointers,both. of which move over the dial to the proper numeral. Then, when thegrip is released, one iointei.- returns at IIO once to the zero-point,while the other remains. I provide a device of this character, and soconstruct it that th e last-11am ed pointer will stand at the numeralindicating the grippingpower until the grip is again seized, when saidpointer will be released and instantly returned to zero by a spring.This device is illustrated in the detached views Figs. 6 and 7. In theseviews, J represents the main pointer or hand, which is fixed on thearbor a, bearing pinion b. ()n this arbor a is a sleeve, a, which bearson its outer end the auxiliary pointer or hand J and on its inner end aratchet-wheel, m. A pawl, 02, mounted on the back of the dial-plate Aengages the teeth of the ratchetavheel. A light volute spring, 0, iscoiled around the arbor, one end of said spring being attached toratchet-wheel m and the other to some fixed part of the casin g. Thepointer J has a pin or stud, p, at its back, which takes behind thepointer J, whereby, when the hand J is moved over the dial to anynumeral thereon, it is made to carry pointer J with it. 'lhismovement ofpointer J rotates ratchet-wheel m and winds up spring 0. \Vhen the gripis released, pointer J instantly returns to zero, but pawl n holds theratchet-wheel, and thus holds pointer J at the numeral indicating theg1-ipping-power. To return pointer J to zero, I employ the device thatwill now be described. The pointer J will remain where set (in Fig. 3 itis shown in dotted lines as standing at numeral 11-0) until the grip isnext seized. \Vhen this is done, the first movement of bar 0 causes abeveled trip, q, of an L shape, pivotally mounted on the rack or on thebar 0, to take under a pin, "1-, in the pawl n and raise said pawl outof the teeth of the ratchet-wheel, thereby set-ting the wheel free andallowing the spring to instantly return pointer J to zero, or nearly so.The trip q is carried on by the movement of the bar C, and when the gripis released and the trip returns to its original position it againstrikes the pin in the pawl, which latter has again engaged itsratchetwheel; but in moving back, the trip, on striking said pin, willbe tilted on said pivot, so that it can pass under the pin withoutdisturbing the pawl. It will be at once returned to its upright positionafter passing the pin bya light spring, 8. (Seen in Fig. '7.) To beexact, the pointer J will, under the conditions named, have started inits movement over the dial when the pointer J is released, andconsequently the latter will only return to pointer J and not to zero.

I may say that where two racks, as c and 0, (see Fig. 8,) are employed,both engaging pinion l), it will only be necessary to make the pinionlong enough to properly receive both racks.

I have not shown the trip q on the rack in Fig. 5, as this view ismerelydesigned to illustra-te another part of the machine.

In Fig. 4 the advanced position of the coin is indicated in dottedlines.

I do not claim, broadly, a cl'iin-controlled device wherein the coint-hatis inserted forms a part of the unlocking mechanism; nor do Iclaim, broadly, a grip composed of a fixed and a movable handle. Thesefeatures are not new in griptesting machines.

Having thus described my invention, I claim 1. In a coin controlledapparatus of the character described, the combination, with theinclosing-casing, of the straight coin-chute extending across saidcasing from top to bottom and openin out of thesame at both ends, andprovided with a branch chute and a hinged switch for directing the coinsinto said branch, the operating-lntr provided with a projecting piecewhich holds the said switch in place, and the springs E, all arranged tooperate substantially as set forth.

2. In a coin-controlled apparatus of the character described, thecombination of the casing provided with a dial, the operatingbar, andrack 0, carried thereby, the arbor a, the pinion I) on said arbor andmeshing with said rack c, the pointer J on the outer end of said arbor,provided with a stud or projection, p, the sleeve (1 on said arbor, thepointer J on the outer end of said sleeve, the ratchetwheel m on theinner end of said sleeve, the spring 0, the pawl 42, engaging saidratchet and provided with a stud, r, and the trip q, pivotally mountedon the rack c, all arranged to operate substantially as set forth.

In witness whereof Ihave hereunto signed my name in the presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

PETER BEETZ.

\Vitnesses:

J. D. CAPLINGER, CHARLES EALY.

